Killer Whales and Missed Assembly

Last semester, Caeden did a poster book report on Killer Whales.  He finally got it out of his book bag this week to show me he got an A on it.

We need to do better about making sure I see his papers in a timely/daily fashion.  

Today, I picked the kids up from school for lessons.  I went into the school to help Annah carry her backpack because I got a call from the school nurse today, who said Annah pulled a muscle in her back during P.E. this morning while doing pushups and was really in pain.  Elementary kids are released from class first at the end of the day, and Caeden came down the hall to me and handed me a wrinkled certificate.  There had been an honors assembly, he had received an award for getting all A's last semester, and I had missed the whole thing!  I've never missed an assembly, but I didn't know about this one at all.  He says he didn't receive a note or a school calendar, but the school is usually great about informing parents.  I'm not sure what happened, and I'm so sad I missed it. 

Random daily life

Last night, the girls stayed after school for Art Club.  Since it was happening at about the same time the girls needed picked up, I went to my first Music Boosters meeting.  Basically the only others in attendance were the board and the music teachers.  I guess maybe it's always that way, but I figured as a parent of music students I should start attending when possible.  It was informative, though I pretty much already was aware of all the business discussed because I work closely with the teachers.

Mr. M and his wife are going to have a baby soon, and the boosters gave him a basket full of cute girly, musical baby stuff.  How sweet.

I went to get a haircut today.  Our neighbor across the street has a nice little shop in Lexington, and she does a great job with my hair.  This is a before picture I took, but I didn't get an after!  Oops.  My hair is much happier now.

It was so beautiful outside this morning!!  The trees and things were covered with a beautiful powdery, sparkly coat of snow, and it was sunny and so pretty!  I tried to take a picture as I got in the car, but I was in a hurry and it didn't turn out as hoped.

Rest

I'm so much more out of commission than I expected to be after the lithotripsy.  Spending lots of time in the recliner with my fuzzy robe and blankie, resting.

In fact, we all relaxed at home last night.  We watched both of the Despicable Me movies.  Well, the kids watched all of them.  Jeremy and I didn't quite see every bit of both movies.

This morning, the kids stayed in bed a bit later than usual, but it wasn't necessarily that they were sleeping in.  They have more time allowance on their Kindles on weekends, so they tried to use it up right away.

Winter in Illinois

One of my friends (who happens to live in Texas now) posted this on her Facebook this morning, and I thought I would add it to our scrapbook.  It is a pretty good description of winter in Illinois.

The windchill is still -20 and the wind is blowing like crazy.  I think the school officials decided we can't keep canceling or we'll be in school until June--like last year.  The kids were kind of disappointed, but bundled up and waited until they could see the bus at the end of town before they headed out.  Bbbrrrrrrr!!!!!

Ugghh...

It's winter alright.  Yesterday, even though the kids were home from school for the cold, Jeremy took the day off work to take me to town and be with me for my ESWL--that's extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy, in other words: they blasted the kidney stones in my left kidney.  

I didn't even see my doctor, but Jeremy said he told him the stones were near each other and that made it easier for him to break them up.  So, they're sand and powder size now, but I feel like crud.  The anesthesia really did me in yesterday.  My stomach was upset all day (partially still from having to drink magnesium citrate in preparation for the surgery), and I was groggy all day.  I slept most of the afternoon and then didn't sleep well last night, even after taking pain meds. Today, I have quite a bit of pain in my kidney and lower back, can't stand up straight, have a headache, and am just exhausted.  And I look like it too...

I definitely don't remember it being this rough when I had this done 10 years ago.  But, Jeremy helped me realize that was 10 years ago and I am older now.  Ick.  

I am supposed to limit movement for the next week.  Wasn't really planning on that.  

But, I am thankful it is just kidney stones and they are on their way out!

I did take the kids into town today for their lessons this afternoon.  Caeden had fun in the car playing with static electricity.

I must admit, I was super grouchy by the time we got home and I still had to make supper.  The girls tried to help, but they were going really slowly and I didn't want to eat at 9pm.  It was a relief to finally sit down and eat just before 7pm.  

Jeremy decided to go out and do some more shoveling tonight, even though it's really windy.  He said it's a little less he'll have to do in the morning.  We had a good laugh at how funny his coveralls look.

Cold and crafty

It's cold.  The kids went back to school on Monday and even on Tuesday after 5 inches of snow. But they had yesterday and today off because the windchill was -20 to -30 below.  For the most part, we've stayed in to keep warm.

Caeden was so excited when we got the call saying school was canceled.  He hiked up his jammies and did a little dance.

After a while, Sylvia decided she was tired of sitting around staring at screens.  She found these fans in her closet.  G'ma L had given them to the girls a while back.  She and Annah got out the paint and glitter and decorated them like Anna and Elsa from Frozen.

Today, Sylvia made this cute little bag with a gallon ziplock bag and some of her new duct tape. 

Cozy

This morning, we took down our giant Christmas tree and all the decorations.  We swept up dead pine needles and Jeremy mopped the floor before putting the rug back down.  Our living room feels huge now, without our big fat tree.  

This afternoon, Sylvia brought her beanbag chair down and sat in it and fell asleep for a little bit while Jeremy played a little Wii Madden.

I love cozy days at home!!

Tanger Outlet Surprise

Since he worked all through the night on NYE and everything went really well, Jeremy took the day off today!!!  He went to the gym this morning, and when he came home he told us all to get ready and get in the car.  He told me where we were going, but the kids had no idea.

As we snapped some on-the-road selfies, I realized I physically cannot do the annoying "duck lips" thing that all the teen/tween girls do.  So I mocked...

The kids were very attentive as we drove, and asked at every billboard and roadsign..."Are we going to...?"  Jeremy decided he liked their attentiveness and might not ever tell them where we are going when we get in the car from now on!

We stopped for lunch at Texas Roadhouse, but forgot it was Friday (not Saturday) and were disappointed that it's not open for lunch on weekdays.  We found Minneci's Ristorante and had a great meal there.  The kids even tried calamari!  The girls liked it, but Caeden probably wouldn't try it again unless forced.

After just a little bit more time in the car, we arrived at Tanger Outlets.  Although Caeden had been dreading the possibility of this being a shopping outing, we all had a good time together today.

We all hit Aeropostale first, then VF, and decided to divide up the boys and girls for most of the time after that.  The guys hit Under Armour, Nike (Caeden got his first pair of hi-tops.), and Jeremy found some much needed new work clothes at Van Heusen.
We ladies did some damage at Justice, Bath and Body Works, the Kitchen Collection (I'm very excited about my new food processor and giant new pot.), and Claire's. Then we all stopped in at Old Navy (Annah used her birthday gift card from Uncle T and Aunt E and got a super fuzzy sweatshirt!) and Toys 'R' Us (no good deals) to end.

We don't go shopping just for fun; on the rare occasion we go to the mall we are looking for something specific.  This was the first time we've done something like this with the kids, and they really weren't sure what to think.  It took them a while to actually look at things they would like.  They were very grateful to their daddy for giving us all a fun day out together and some special things just for them.  

It's a new year!

Our dear friends, the R Fam, came over for lunch today.  We just love spending time with them!  We ate lots of food and the kids played and hung out upstairs for a while.  We old folk settled into the living room and chatted.  Then the kids came down and asked to watch a movie.  We all watched Maleficent together.  It is a beautiful movie, and the story is definitely not what I expected.

I gave Addie a blue hat I'd made, and the girls let me snap a picture of them all in their beanies.

Reece stayed the night, and he and Caeden played some Madden on the Wii 

and watched Over the Hedge.  

We are so thankful for this family of friends!!

The TARYN

Over the past week, our toilet seat has become loose.  Yesterday, on the last day of the year, it slid off completely.  (Yikes!) 

After working 13 hours through the night, Jeremy stopped by Lowes to pick up a new seat. After he chose the one he wanted (for elongated bowl, and "smooth close" because the kids and I are slammers) he noticed the name of the seat on the box...

He said he laughed so hard he started coughing in the aisle at Lowes.  

The funny thing is, when he brought it home to show me, I didn't laugh so hard...

Seriously?  After 38 years of never finding my name on anything, this is what I get?!  

Ugh. 

At least it is a nice toilet seat.